Direct and undeviating. Powerful, soft, potent, and mesmerizing. I looked into his eyes for just a few seconds … and that encounter burned into my heart like nothing I had ever felt. Every time I return to those eyes, I sense the presence of a mysterious gateway.

I fell in love with him in Kanana on the Okavango Delta a few weeks ago. Our gaze lasted just long enough for me to melt into the contact with him, while at the same time remaining fully aware of the unbridgeable divide between us.

My words fall by the wayside as I let his eyes speak in their own regal way.

As an impressionable teenager, I was fascinated by Alexandre Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias. What struck me then about the book’s heroine, Marguerite Gauthier, a courtesan, was that she wore a white camellia when she was available to her lover(s) and a red one when her delicate condition precluded making love.

I had never seen a camellia which made the flower seem all the more exotic to my young romantic imagination. Still today, I associate camellias with secret lovers and the ephemeral nature of seductive beauty.

Photo/Text/Editing: Victor Osaka

.

What informs my style as a photographer? I asked myself this question recently. I have come to the conclusion that I am influenced by many things—from current trends in photography, to the technology of the equipment I use, and the range of photography I grew up admiring. And then, there is personal experience…

Reflecting on my childhood, the biggest influence on my style is due to an unfortunate condition. As a child my eyesight was so poor that everything was a blur. I could not even discern the leaves on a tree.

I remember stepping out of the optometrist’s office wearing my first pair of glasses. Right outside his office was a large tree. I looked up and for the first time saw the beauty of the leaves on a tree. They were shimmering in the sun. I can still see and even hear the sound those leaves made in the gentle breeze. I could not take my eyes off this amazing sight.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.
So, it is interesting to review my body of work and recognize this important influence on my style. To this day, the images that most speak to me have a very narrow depth of field.

Sharp edges grow from the point of focus and the remainder of the image is blurred so as to bring total attention to the sharp details.

I recommend taking a look at your own library of images to see if you can identify what influences your style. It is a very revealing exercise.

Images/Editing/Text: Aline LaPierre Additional Editing: Victor Osaka

At times, I like to step out of mindfulness and into mindlessness—or, as the Japanese call it, no mind state.

My favorite doorway into no mind state is my iPad touchscreen. I love to immerse myself in the immediacy of shape and color as they emerge from the movement of my fingers on the screen.

I think of it as a present-day version of Japanese calligraphy.

Faced with a blank paper, the calligrapher has but one chance to lay down a perfect stroke. The brush stoke reflects the calligrapher’s internal state at the moment it touches the paper’s surface. To execute Japanese calligraphy with mastery, one must clear one’s mind so that the feeling of the moment flows out effortlessly. It is a practice to uncover one’s original self, the hidden essence within.

On the touchscreen, the gesture of my finger is recorded as immediately as the calligrapher’s brush stroke on paper. But on the touchscreen, something more happens, a stunning new dimension is set in motion. Threads of light in a fluid electronic medium spread and grow like dendrites in a nervous system. Not only is the gesture recorded, but its impulse, now imprinted onto a responsive surface, continues to spread, overlap, and curl upon itself. The electronic medium gives the brain the experience of observing its essential self in motion.

Photo/Text: Aline LaPierre Photo Editing: Victor Osaka

.

Have you heard of the swans of Ulm? Until a few months ago, I had not.

Then through unusual circumstances, I found myself alone with my camera, wandering the streets of the medieval city of Ulm in the Baden-Würtenberg region of southern Germany. I had nothing to do on that sunny winter afternoon but enjoy the charms of this quiet town reputed for being the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Founded in 854 on the banks of the beautiful blue Danube, the juxtaposition of past and present, old and new is strikingly well balanced in Ulm. From the spire of the cathedral which is the tallest in the world, to the gleaming avant-garde town hall by architect Richard Meier, Ulm has embraced the present to mend a troubled past, healing the scars of war with elegance and dignity.

But beyond its stunning architecture, a stroll along the south bank of the lazy Danube revealed what turned out to be Ulm’s greatest charm: SWANS. For the animal lover that I am, this was a moment of heaven on earth.

Feast your eyes, as I did, on the swans of Ulm. Nothing more need be said.

Photo/Text: Victor Osaka Art Direction: Aline LaPierre

“A good idea is never lost.Even though its originator or possessor may die without publicizing it,
it will someday be reborn in the mind of another….”Thomas Edison

“The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments…. Although I was never myself discouraged or hopeless of its success, I can not say the same for my associates…. Through all of the years of experimenting with it, I never once made an associated discovery. It was deductive… The results I achieved were the consequence of invention – pure and simple. I would construct and work along various lines until I found them untenable. When one theory was discarded, I developed another at once. I realized very early that this was the only possible way for me to work out all the problems.”